“Hola!”
“Mornin’.”
Ruka giggled at how all over the place their greetings were and sat down.
Hinaru, the girl with champagne-pink twin ponytails, grumbled, “Ugh... Look, Ruka-chin.”
“Hmm? What?”
“Like, our latest masterpiece.”
Hinaru had the social media app DipZip open on her phone. There was a video of the Hie High dance club in a hallway, with Hinaru right in the middle. She was moving her arms and legs like a pro, her pink ponytails with bold, dark streaks swinging wildly as she danced. The whole club’s moves were so smooth, anyone could tell their dancing was top-tier just by watching a clip.
“Ooh, looking good.”
“Yeah, but check the comments.”
“Huh? Oh, oof...”
Their dancing was solid, and they’d chosen a popular song, so the video had a ton of views and just as many comments. But...
“‘Ty for the swinging tits, shake your ass more’...” Hinaru read out loud before making a face. “Gross! These comments are so ick. Ick, ick, ick!”
You never knew who or how many people were going to see you on social media. And you almost had to expect comments like that on a video of high school girls dancing. Hinaru getting angry wouldn’t get creeps like that to shut up—she’d just tire herself out. The best plan was to report those comments.
Ruka knew getting mad wouldn’t help at all, but she still felt anger boiling up inside. Hinaru was her friend, her adorable pal who was cute in her own way with the bright makeup she wore and the funny (and sometimes mysterious) things she said. If some random troll was causing trouble for Hinaru, Ruka wasn’t gonna keep quiet about it.
“Now I’m annoyed too... Hina, gimme your phone. I’m gonna fire back.”
“H-Hey, what’re you getting all worked up about, Ruka-chin?”
“I’m in the dance club too, so I gotta pitch off for my buds.”
“Yeah, but only on paper... And don’tcha mean ‘pitch in’?” With an awkward laugh, Hinaru held her phone away from Ruka.
Ruka couldn’t really do much to help, but at least her friend got to vent a little. It was frustrating, but maybe it was best to back down for now. Pushing harder would probably make Hinaru mad at her instead.
“Ungh...” another voice groaned.
Ruka turned and found her friend with black hair and peekaboo highlights, Meiri, glaring at her phone with a frown. A necklace swayed back and forth along the neckline of her slightly unbuttoned uniform top. She was pretty, which wasn’t surprising for an amateur model in a fashion magazine, so even her pained expression looked like something out of a painting.
“What’s up, Mei?” Ruka asked.
“The lip balm I’ve been wanting went up on Maruoku.” Meiri’s phone had an auction site called Maruoku up, and there was a picture of a package with “Lip Creature” written on it.
Lip Creature was a type of lip balm sold by the Japanese cosmetics company KATHY. It was famous for lasting all day and was so popular that it kept selling out all over the country. People buying and selling Lip Creature on an auction site like Maruoku proved how crazy the demand was.
“Wait, isn’t that kinda expensive...?”
The Lip Creature on the page Meiri was looking at was pricier than usual.
“It’s Maruoku. Everything’s kinda pricey there.”
“Isn’t Lip Creature budget stuff? Paying that much is, y’know...”
“I know. I know, but it’s not in stock anywhere...” Meiri replied with a sigh.
Ruka wanted to help her friends whenever they were in trouble, but she also had to keep the state of their wallets in mind. She’d been pals with Meiri ever since middle school, but money wasn’t something she could bring up lightly. So Ruka decided to stay neutral without agreeing or arguing with her.
But then Hinaru spoke up. “Mei-chi, you totally got swindled when you bought face cream without thinking last time. Tryna buy Lip Creature’s gonna be a total disaster, so you should quit before you make yourself look like a dummy again.”
Everyone froze.
To be fair, Hinaru was right. Meiri had gotten screwed over on auction sites before. Last time, she’d agonized a ton over the package pics of the high-end cream like she’d just been doing with the Lip Creature listing. She’d decided to buy the cream...and they’d sent her an empty box. Total scam. Meiri had at least managed to return it, but she’d been a mess for a few days after that. Ruka definitely agreed it was best not to tempt fate again, but she also thought Hinaru could’ve phrased it a little more gently.
“Oh, like you’ve never done anything like that,” Meiri snapped back. “There was that whole deal when you bought those knockoff hoops. Me and Ruka spent forever trying to cheer you up. Doesn’t forgetting about that make you the dummy?”
“Um, unrelated.” Hinaru looked more intense now. Her face wasn’t scary or anything because she looked so young, but Ruka could clearly feel the anger coming off her.
Class hasn’t even started yet, but sparks are already flying between Hina and Mei?! And the reason is kinda really dumb! Ruka sighed and braced herself for the oncoming crash. This was just a little squabble, not a serious fight. They might stop talking to each other for a few days, but they’ll make up on their own. No big deal—but dealing with that for a few days is gonna be a pain...
Ruka was gonna be stuck scrambling between the two of them until they made up. Having fun was her number one priority, so she really wanted to avoid a situation that was basically a hundred percent pain.
She decided to interrupt her friends’ argument. “No, you are both ze most foolish of fools,” she announced.
Hinaru and Meiri both went pale.
“Ruka-chin, what’s with that accent?”
“What the heck is that, an impression? Who or what, even?”